238 EXPLORING FOR CASTILLOA RUBBER 



into by a series of from three to five foot steps, with a pool of water in 

 the hollow of each, so the difficulty in getting along may be imagined. 

 Finally the top of Cerro Nuncio was reached, three thousand five 

 hundred feet in the air, and laid out before us like a map, were the 

 plains of the other side of the peninsula. This mountain, so said the 

 Miner, was a mass of gold bearing quartz, and a part of the property we 

 were examining, but we left it where it was. After a rest we started 

 down towards the town of Las Minas which was to be our recuperating 

 and repairing station. The descent was far too steep to ride, so we 

 climbed 'down, finally reaching the plains, and a little after noon, we 

 rode into the old Indian town. Here, installed in a house owned by 

 the Pioneer, we were soon sitting at a table, using knives, forks, and 

 napkins, as if we had always been accustomed to them. 



This narrative relates primarily to rubber, and it is hard to forecast 

 just how much extraneous matter the reader will stand. But it is only 

 fair to the writer to allow him a word concerning a part of the world 

 which Christopher Columbus, Duke of Veragua, chose for his own, as 

 it was his province, Veragua, that we then were in. Not only that, but 

 all the Indians of his time were Spanish slaves, and the amount of work 

 that they did in digging down mountain sides for gold, is marvelous. 

 Las Minas, founded by the descendants of Columbus, has its plaza, 

 church, tiled houses, dogs, children, and buzzards, like all Central Ameri- 

 can towns. It also has several fine Castilloa trees, and not far away an 

 extensive Castilloa plantation. The latter is known as "Las Margharitas" 

 and is owend by the alcade of Las Minas. It consists of about twenty 

 hectares of land, planted with rubber and coffee. There are said to be 

 some twenty-five thousand Castilloas, that for age would average about 

 three years. One tree that was ten years old was sixteen inches in 

 diameter, and bled freely, but the latex was waxy, and did not coagulate 

 until the wax was worked out. This was not the case with all, and I 

 think the difference was individual. 



In our conversation with the Indians we learned all that they knew 

 of the land just explored. They confessed that they did not like to go 

 over there, as they were afraid of getting lost. They also boasted of 

 the times when their grandfathers crossed the mountains and, filling 

 canoes with latex, used them as coagulating vessels, and very hesitat- 

 ingly, and only after very much persuasion, they told of the gold some 

 brought out and of the "lost mines" that had once produced such riches 

 for the Spaniards before the Indians rose and massacred them. 



Fourth of July came while we were in Las Minas, but it would take 



